Main baseball diamond in city's Southside Park named: Tip O'Neill Sportsfield
By
Mark Schadenberg
We’re
in the middle of the 2016 World Series, so it’s interesting to read about an
athlete from Woodstock who hit two home runs in Game 2.
Hitting
two home runs in one game was remarkable because even though he had 107 RBIs in
138 regular season games, his season total for homers was just 3.
The
baseball star from Woodstock would win the triple crown the next year . . . the
next year as 1887.
It
was exactly 130 years ago this autumn that James Edward ‘Tip’ O’Neill led the
St Louis Browns to the world championship, winning the finals in six games over
the Chicago White Stockings.
St
Louis certainly would have been favoured to with the trophy as they compiled a
record of 93-46 in the regular season.
O’Neill
batted third in the order and played left field. Charlie Comiskey, who many
many years later had the White Sox stadium named after him, batted fifth.
O’Neill
was the star of the 1886 World Series as he not only hit 2 homers in Game 2,
but also hit. 400 in the playoffs with 2 triples.
Keep
in mind, that 1886 is before the automobile and less than 20 years after
Canada’s Confederation, and the patent for an invention called a telephone was
only 10 years earlier in 1876, so reporting news – even a sports item as
seemingly important as the World Series – would not happen instantly. The
Woodstock Sentinel-Review published its report about Tip O’Neill’s heroics on
Nov. 1, 1886, which is 130 years ago today.
Woodstock Sentinel-Review
Nov. 1, 1886
A young Tip O'Neill with Woodstock Actives
In
the 1886 World Series, the Browns would defeat Chicago in 6 games, but another
interesting note is that the 1885 finals were always in dispute as Game 1 ended
in a tie due to darkness, and then St Louis forfeited Game 2 to Chicago after
protesting a call by an umpire. After St Louis won Game 7 by a 13-4 score, old
reports read online have the teams splitting the prize money.
The
big season for Tip O’Neill would be 1887 when the ‘Woodstock Wonder’ hit .435
and won the triple crown with 14 HRs and 123 RBIs. He also led the American
Association in hits (225) runs (167), doubles (52) and triples (19). His
on-base percentage led the league as well at .490 thanks to 50 walks. The
reason I mention the on-base stat separately is because that was the season pro
ball counted walks as hits, so some annals have O’Neill’s batting average as a
rather insane .490 for 1887.
The
St Louis Browns would naturally later become the Cardinals and many other teams
shortened their names or changed them completely as the New York Metropolitans
are now simply the Mets.
O’Neill
had begun his pro career with the New York Gothams, which became the New York
Giants and later the San Francisco Giants in 1958.
O’Neill’s
biography notes that he also played for the Chicago Pirates (with Comiskey again
as his manager) and the Cincinnati Reds. Hugh Duffy was a teammate with the
Pirates and that is important to the O’Neill tale as Duffy hit .440 in the 1894
season (with the Boston Beaneaters) and is truly considered to be the only
hitter to ever have a 1-season batting average higher than O’Neill’s .435 in
1887. Tip O’Neill’s remarkable 1887 tops anything ever produced (see the
Baseball Reference graph here) by legends Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Ted
Williams, George Sisler or even Shoeless Joe Jackson.
O’Neill’s
career batting average of .326 is better than Joe DiMaggio’s career numbers.
The
only modern day player to approach .400 was the amazing Tony Gwynn (He died
from cancer in 2014 at the age of just 54) of the San Diego Padres at .394 in
1994.
As
you can see I love baseball.
I
also love Woodstock, but the story of Tip O’Neill does not end at the family’s
business – The Oxford Hotel (O’Neill House was its name way back when), which
still stands today at the corner of Peel and Finkle streets, but his days
actually ended in Montreal on New Year’s Eve in 1915 at the age of 57 of a
heart attack. He was still employed in baseball as O’Neill was a key figure in
having an Eastern League minor-league team set up as the Montreal Royals in
1898.
The
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame was founded with its initial inductions in 1983
and Tip O’’Neill was among the first 6 to be so recognized. (The hall in St
Marys opened in 1998 as it was originally located at Ontario Place / Exhibition
Place in Toronto).
Annually
the top Major League baseball player from Canada receives the Tip O’Neill Award,
which seems lately to have found a home on the trophy shelf of Joey Votto of
the Reds as he has earned the recognition 5 of the past 6 years – sharing the
hardware with John Axford in 2011, and losing out to Justin Morneau in 2014.
Larry Walker has won the trophy 9 times.
Before
turning pro, O’Neill won a Canadian amateur baseball championship in 1879 with
the Woodstock Actives.
Tip
O’Neill is part of the new inter-active screens display of the Woodstock Sports
Wall of Fame at the Southwood Arenas in Woodstock – AKA the community complex.
LINKS:
The infield received new sod at the Tip O’Neill diamond in Southside Park
in November of 2014. Here’s another local link.
2013 Story:
Doug Symons column from 2008:
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Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
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